


Ready

by chellerrific



Category: Bleach
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-03
Updated: 2013-06-03
Packaged: 2017-12-13 20:16:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/828411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chellerrific/pseuds/chellerrific
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the dust finally settles, it always falls to someone to pick up the pieces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ready

**Author's Note:**

> A prequel of sorts to my ficlet [Go](http://archiveofourown.org/works/824232) and so set a short period of time before that.

Shinji leaned back, contemplating the enormity of the problem before him. True, the buildings were intact, but he could tell a wreck when he saw one, and the Fifth was in ruins.

“Kan for your thoughts?” Rose prodded gently, taking a sip of his tea.

“Just trying to figure out how to get the stink of Aizen out of these walls.”

“Aizen’s gone for good, man. It’ll fade with time. If it doesn’t happen quickly enough, why not try some air fresheners?” Love suggested good-naturedly.

It was strange to Shinji that he and Rose should be here in shihakusho and captain’s haori while Love was still in his civvies. The verdict of “unnecessary” was unspoken but painfully clear, and that rankled Shinji, because the word did not describe Love at all.

“Gone for _now_ , you mean,” Rose corrected. “Strange to hear you speak with such certainty, Love. We who know so well the unreliability of absolutes.”

Love waved him off, but Shinji was inclined to agree with Rose. Still, he was already sick of talking about Aizen. “How are things going in your house, Rose?”

Rose gave a small sigh for dramatic effect. “About as well as one could expect. The men are still terribly wary of me, but respectful, on the whole.”

“Scared, probably,” Love said, barely joking at all.

“It’s true, alas. One hundred years is a lot of time for some fantastically twisted rumors about our kind to take root.”

“Since coming back, I’ve learned a lot about myself I never would have guessed,” Shinji said dryly. “Did you know we eat live house cats?”

“Live? That’s a new one,” Love muttered as Rose tried to recover from nearly choking on his tea.

“I’m just grateful Hiyori wasn’t there to hear that. Considering she broke my nose recently, I’d say she’s recovered enough to give someone a really bad day.”

“Eh, at least it would only be one day, ’cause they’d be dead by the end of it.” Love looked unapologetic about this certainty.

“Anyway, Rose, what about your boy? Kira? How are things going with him?”

Rose tilted his head a bit, his eyes going towards the ceiling in thought. “He’s a gloomy fellow, that’s for certain. Not a comedian by any means. But I get the impression he’s always been that way, independent of whatever number that snake Ichimaru did on him. He’s a good kid, though. Writes lovely if rather depressing haiku. I think we’ll get along well, once he stops looking at me like he expects me to drop-kick him at any moment. What about…”

Rose trailed off. He and Love eyed Shinji warily, neither wanting to articulate what everybody knew. As much of a mess as Rose and Kensei had to clean up at their respective divisions, it was nothing compared to the smoking crater Shinji had come back to.

But Shinji had never been one to let even difficult truths go unspoken. “Ah, let’s see. My division’s a teardown, my lieutenant can barely walk and will probably never let herself trust another person again, and my men think I eat live cats. It would be less painful to call Hiyori flat-chested and let the chips fall where they may.”

“Having been in that situation, I’m not sure you’re right about that at all,” Love said.

“You deserved that,” Rose told him unsympathetically.

“Come on, she brought it up. I was just agreeing with her.”

“Stupidly.”

“Anyway, Shinji, is it really as bad as all that?”

Shinji raised one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “Yes, but it’s not unsalvageable by any means. I’ll just have to cut back on things like sleep and breathing for a while. This little get-together is going to eat up all my free time for at least a month, so I hope you're flattered.”

“What about your lieutenant?” Rose said gingerly. “I’d like to help if I can. I’m told she and my Izuru were once quite close, and I don’t get the impression that’s changed overmuch, all things considered.”

“Yeah, thanks, Rose. My own position aside, I want her to be able to rely on her friends. I’m… taking it one step at a time with her. It’s not going to be easy, but, well. Welcome to the life of Shinji Hirako.” He exhaled through pursed lips, the sigh disturbing his fringe.

“Eh, you can handle it. You’re good with people,” Love said with confidence. “Just don’t give her any of that ‘first love’ crap.”

There was a pause.

“Oh, Shinji, no,” Rose said.

Shinji rolled his eyes. “Jeez, wipe those disgusted looks off your faces. Of course I haven’t said anything like that to her yet. What do you take me for, anyway?”

“‘Yet’?” Rose repeated, raising one elegant blond eyebrow.

“ _Anyway_.” Shinji brought his hand down in a chopping motion, ending that line of inquiry. “If there are any _other_ suggestions from the peanut gallery, speak now or forever hold your traps shut.”

Love stroked his chin in thought. “Something’s been bugging me for a while now. Your shikai.”

“Ah, yes. The thought crossed my mind, too. I’m trying to build trust and Sakanade’s very strength lies in tearing that away. I’m not planning on keeping that from her, since I, at the very least, trust _her_ , but I’ll wait until the time is right to bring it up.”

“That is unfortunate, the similarities of your shikai to Aizen’s,” Rose added thoughtfully.

Shinji’s lip curled. “Be grateful we’re friends, Rose.”

“Distasteful though you may find it, it’s uncomfortably true. _You_ should be grateful it’s unlikely she remembers the time she did see it in action.”

Rose was being matter-of-fact, not intentionally stinging, and so Shinji could only agree. He let out another sigh, something he was finding himself doing a lot lately. “One step at a time,” he repeated at last, as much to himself as to Rose and Love.

The three of them lapsed into a contemplative silence for a long moment.

“Captain Hirako?” a tremulous voice said from the other side of the door, bringing them all back to the present abruptly.

“What is it?” Shinji called back.

The door slid open, revealing his lieutenant kneeling on the porch, as if she’d been summoned by their conversation. “I—oh, I’m sorry, sir, I didn't realize you had company.”

“Eh, they’re nobodies,” Shinji said dismissively, ignoring the offended looks the nobodies in question gave him. “What brings you here, Lieutenant Hinamori?”

“It’s time for afternoon sword drills, sir.” She kept her head down, as she generally did around him. Whether it was an unnecessarily extreme show of respect or something else, though, Shinji couldn’t quite decide. Either way, she’d grow out of it with time—he hoped.

“Oh, damn, is it that late already?” With a glance at the clock, Shinji quickly got to his feet, sliding Sakanade through his sash in one practiced, fluid motion.

“Boy, that takes me back. Can’t say I envy you guys, except of course for all the ways I do.” Love had a hazy look on his face.

“I’d better get back myself, anyway.” Rose followed Shinji’s example. “Bring my manga next time, Love. And don’t try to tell me you ‘forgot,’ either. I know Lisa reminded you, because I asked her to.”

“All right, all right.” Love held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “You can spare the rod, I’m a little too old to be at risk of spoilage anymore.”

“Funny you should mention spoiling in a conversation about my manga.”

Shinji inclined his head, indicating Momo should follow him. “We’ll be there all day if we wait around for those two to hash it out,” he told her conversationally once they had moved a few steps away.

“I see,” Momo replied. That was all she usually said in response to him: “I see.” That or, “Yes, sir.”

He deliberately kept his pace slow to draw out this chance for conversation—it was private but in a public space, as low-pressure a situation as he could hope for. They’d be cutting it close with training, but this was more important. He suspected the rest of the Fifth was as invested in seeing Momo well again as he was.

“How are you feeling today, Lieutenant? You look well.” He had accepted that for now he’d be carrying any conversation between the two of them. In the time since his reinstatement he’d allowed long silences to pass between them as she followed him around like this, letting her get used to his presence and her place with him. Now he was stepping it up, bit by bit.

“Good, sir. I hardly feel any pain at all anymore.” Her hand drifted to her chest, probably unconsciously.

“I’m glad to hear it. Captain Unohana is as frighteningly capable as ever.”

She started a bit at his choice of words, and he was pleased to see a reaction on her beyond polite impassiveness. It meant she was waking up. But still all she said was, “Yes, sir.”

Shinji let a moment slip by, turning to face forward again. “Oh, man,” he said after, putting a hand to his head.

“Captain? Is something the matter?”

“No, it’s just, I just remembered we ran out of leave request forms and I forgot to send for more.”

“You’ve been very busy,” Momo said automatically, judiciously, as if it was something she felt she ought to say.

“Yeah, but now I’ll have to go borrow some from Captain Kuchiki or something until we can get more of our own made up. I don’t like talking to that guy. For one thing it’s freaking weird that he’s taller than me now.”

“You knew Captain Kuchiki before?” Momo’s curiosity got the better of her, briefly suspending the polite distance she had maintained. “I mean—I’m sorry, Captain. That’s none of my business.”

“Don’t worry about it. As to your question, yeah, sort of. Not well at all, and I’m still not convinced this Byakuya Kuchiki is the same Byakuya Kuchiki I used to know.”

“People can change a lot in a hundred years,” she suggested.

“True enough, I guess. It’s a little disorienting to reconcile all that’s changed with all that hasn’t, though, like stepping sideways into a parallel universe.”

“Change is always disorienting.” Her voice was very quiet.

“Yeah, but often for the best, as troublesome as that is. Anyway, what am I thinking? I don’t have to go see that guy; I can just send you.” Shinji glanced back, letting a smile slide over his face.

Momo was too startled to keep her head down, and they made eye contact briefly before she looked away. “Me, sir? I mean, if those are your orders, sir.”

“I think they just might be. Unless you want to delegate to someone else. That’s the beauty of having subordinates, as you’ll come to learn quite well once you have experienced all my delegating. You’re friends with the lieutenant there, aren’t you? At the Sixth, I mean.”

“Ah—Lieutenant Abarai and I were classmates at the Academy, sir.”

“Mm. On second thought, I order you personally to go to the Sixth Division to borrow more forms, and while you’re there I order you to have a friendly chat with your old schoolmate Abarai. I’ll leave the length and subject matter to your discretion. I like to trust my subordinates to carry out the spirit of my orders, rather than micromanage them, you see.” Shinji grinned wider.

Momo was flustered enough to let the eye contact last more than a single instant this time. He could see she was awake now.

They had reached the training hall, for all he’d dragged his feet. “Go ahead and do that now. You’re a peach. Huh, I didn’t even do that on purpose. Anyway, see you at dinner. I hope it’s cats!” With one last mischievous look, Shinji stepped into the training hall and shut the door behind him, leaving her firmly on the other side.

“Cats, sir?” came her voice meekly after.

That was progress. It was slow and certainly not linear, but it added up. Maybe, just maybe, she would be ready for a more direct, more personal conversation soon. He knew too well that it was far easier to destroy than it was to rebuild, but they’d get there.

**Author's Note:**

> When I was writing “Go,” I had some ideas in my head about how Shinji would work up to that point. I mean, a little awk to just be like, hey little girl, come to my room and play games with me, right? Plus he had to either know or guess that intimate one-on-ones like that would have been part of Aizen’s MO. He’d have to build his relationship with Momo up to a point where such a situation wouldn’t do more harm to her than good first.
> 
> So like I said I had some ideas, but no real framing device. I decided I wanted it to be dialogue-oriented rather than largely or completely internal monologue, and while there were a couple different options along that avenue, this is what I ended up going with. It’s a concentrated form of what I originally had in mind, but I'm not too unhappy with the results.
> 
> Shinji continues to be a challenge to write, which I suppose is a cautionary tale about writing characters more witty and intelligent than me, but I feel a little more confident about this one, to whatever end.


End file.
